‘High electricity prices in California have nothing to do with renewables’
Stanford University professor Mark Z. Jacobson spoke to pv magazine about recent research work showing that California could easily rely on a wind-water-solar-dominated large grid. He says the state’s current electricity prices are high because of several reasons that have nothing to do with renewables.
New research from Stanford University has shown that California could massively rely on renewable energies to cover its electricity demand without risks of blackouts and high energy prices.
“Our work shows that the main grid in the world’s fifth-largest economy was able to provide more than 100% of the electricity that it used from only four clean renewable sources: solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal, for anywhere from 5 minutes to over 10 hours per day for 98 out of 116 days during late winter, all of spring, and early summer, as well as for 132 days during the entire year of 2024, without its grid failing,” Mark Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University and the research’s lead author, told pv magazine.
According to the study, the growth of solar, wind and battery storage, in particular, resulted in fossil gas use dropping 40% during the 116-day period and 25% during the entire year of 2024 relative to 2023. “In comparison with 2023, solar, wind, and battery capacities increased significantly, with batteries doubling in capacity,” Jacobson added. “In fact, batteries met a peak of 12% of nighttime demand during the period of interest. The decrease, in just one year of 25% of gas use on the CAISO grid indicates the complete phase-out of gas is approaching. This also debunks the myth that gas must increase when renewables increase on the grid.”
